6

Chapter Thirty-Six: The World of Light

There was a period of disorientation when KyTeth felt as though he were floating in a sea of multi-colored liquid light. He must have died, he thought, and this was some kind of after-life. Before long, however, he began to see clouds and he realized that they had made atmosphere. He worked the controls as best he could to keep his descent from breaking up. The Centauri fighter that was attached to his was weighing him down, but there was no way that he could jettison him. As they circled downwards, KyTeth began to feel that they were losing altitude too quickly. The Centauri fighter's engines were dying, and that meant he would need to land a double load. Fighters did not normally land on planets, but were usually kept in space in the docking bays, so he had really not had any experience landing one of these on the ground. He sent out an emergency signal to anyone on the ground who might be listening, and he was instantly sent a message through his console giving him a set of co-ordinates. He punched them into the computer and put the Fighter on auto-pilot as the two crafts thumped madly against each other. He remembered that Na'Toth had shown him the auto-pilot feature, a new addition for the model of which his particular Fighter was a part. It was to be used in case of an emergency landing on a planet. He was thankful now that Na'Toth's training had been so thorough.

He sent out a quick prayer to the Universe that the Star-Fighter that he had nicknamed the "Spirit Spider" would be capable of landing itself using the co-ordinates that he had punched in. He hoped desperately that whoever had sent those co-ordinates was on their side. Meanwhile, he attempted to stabilize the Fighter through adjusting some of the settings to account for the extra load that he was carrying. The "Spirit Spider" had managed to take control of the descent as KyTeth tried everything he could think of to continue to stabilize the two Fighters. It occurred to him then that he had not yet initiated his own towing clasps onto the Centauri's Fighter. He quickly began the procedure, clasping the Fighter closer to him. That seemed to fix the continual thumping that had been occurring as the two crafts banged against each other. He made another set of adjustments, and it seemed as if the Centauri was doing the same thing, for they seemed, for a minute or two, to be functioning in tandem, as if they were one ship. He knew, however, that the Centauri's engine power was diminishing if not completely dead. He prayed that his power would last just a bit longer, as they were now nearing the ground and they needed the best stabilization possible if they were going to succeed at landing together. He could feel, however, that the Centauri's engines were in trouble, and that they were failing. As the two crafts neared the ground, he knew that they were coming in a little too fast. They skidded and bumped crazily through a grassy meadow, the bottoms of their Fighters crunching loudly on some rocks that they were hitting. The Centauri had let out a fan-tail contraption from the rear of his fighter, which he appeared to be using to slow their speed. They continued on and on, bouncing off of the ground and hitting it again until they careened into some trees, and KyTeth saw branches flying everywhere. The double-bound crafts splashed down into a watery, muddy bog and finally came to a sickening, crashing halt as the "Spirit Spider" slammed into a huge tree. KyTeth felt the front of his cock-pit crunch his legs, and he felt a searing, stabbing, burning pain that was absolutely unbearable. He knew that he would have to bear it anyways. The front of his craft was now smoking, and he knew that he needed to get out quickly.

He unfastened the holders manually so that he could open up the top of his Fighter. He managed to do so, but then realized that he was completely trapped in the Fighter: his legs were pinned under the crunched fore-section.

A Centauri had climbed to the top of his Fighter; he was armed with an energy gun of some kind. He pointed it straight at KyTeth, and, as the sun's light streamed down on his enemy, he recognized the man: it was Nykko Marran.

"Nykko!" he cried, "It's me—KyTeth! Don't you remember?"

"Oh, yes, I do, my dear enemy. You are the filthy scoundrel who made love to my cousin, Chanaral. Your family ruined my Uncle Minnar. I ought to shoot you right here and now, but I have a better plan. Your Fighter is smoking, and I predict that very soon flames will engulf it and you. From what I can see, your legs are pinned under the weight of your sweet machine, against the trunk of this most excellent tree. You would richly deserve it if I left you here to die, but then I would be a lone Centauri amongst a group of hostile Narns. So—I have a bargain for you. I save your life, and you are then honor-bound to save mine, when your hostile comrades come to either kill or torture me. Do you agree to this?"

"Yes," KyTeth shouted to him, "I would help you even if you didn't save me."

Nykko laughed like a hyena in heat. "You would be dead, you ass!" he brayed, "But never mind."

The young Centauri jumped down from KyTeth's Fighter and came back up with what appeared to be a laser scalpel that a physician would use to perform operations.

"My Uncle Minnar taught me how to use one of these in order to perform emergency amputations."

"Amputation?" KyTeth muttered, "What..."

"Your legs are crushed, and I cannot possibly extricate them in time. Therefore, I will perform a double amputation—I could give you some pain-killers, but I will not."

Nykko began to slice through his legs, just above the knee, and KyTeth felt like vomiting as he smelled the burning of his own flesh. He was not sure if it was from the burning front end of the craft, or from Nykko's cutting-beam. He felt a searing pain such as he had never felt in his life. He instinctively wanted to scream, but his many months of military training had taught him to suppress any sign of weakness. He grabbed his gloved fist and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Go on, scream!" Nykko told him, "It will make you feel so much better, KyTeth! Alas, it will also prove to your comrades that you are a coward, and they will no doubt kill you for it."

The Centauri paused to press a button on his belt, and the sound of Chanaral singing one of her peace songs emanated from it. Nykko chortled to himself as he continued his grim work.

Nykko Marran believed that by playing the music, he would push the young Narn beyond what he could endure, but in fact, Chanaral's voice had the opposite effect. As her songs entered his ears, he could feel himself being lifted far above his body. A kind of Chanaral-Spirit was lifting him up with her.

"Chanaral!" he called, "Are you dead, too?"

"No, silly Narn," she soothed him, "I am alive on Minbar, and you will survive this, because I forbid you to die at the hands of that mud-slug, Nykko Marran. I do ask that you keep him under your protection, though. I believe he is salvageable, under the proper conditions. He would never have made it through the Shield if he was not."

"I promise that I will, Channie," he told her, as he suddenly felt his body sliding down a metal chute of some kind. He was being bumped along the ground, and it was as if his spirit was not quite inside his body yet. He saw blood gushing from his legs; and he saw his trusty Fighter, the "Spirit Spider", engulfed in flames along with the Centauri Fighter.

He saw Nykko applying clamps of some kind to his legs to stop the bleeding. He could sense from Nykko a strong desire to save the unconscious Narn whose legs he had just amputated. He wanted to save KyTeth, in spite of what he had said earlier.

He was now pouring some kind of Centauri alcoholic beverage into his mouth, saying as he did so, "Come on, my Narn brother. I see that you wish to live. Let us survive together, as we did when we crash-landed here. I want to be able to see my wife and son again, just as you want to see your family."

KyTeth felt himself falling back into the heavy, pain-drenched hulk that was his body. He felt again the searing, burning pain, and the smell of his own burnt flesh.

"Nykko," he managed to rasp at his savior, "I thank you, brother."

Nykko looked at him as though he was embarrassed that KyTeth might have heard his earlier tender encouragements to him. He scowled at him and hoisted him onto his back. KyTeth was obliged to hold onto his neck as Nykko charged across the bog, his feet getting stuck with almost every step. He kept falling, but then would get up again.

"Don't strangle me while you're up there, Narn!" he growled menacingly, but KyTeth no longer feared the supercilious man. He held on with all the strength that he had left, until finally Nykko had made it across the bog. He heard an explosion behind them, and he knew that his "Spirit Spider" had given up the ghost, along with Nykko's craft.

"Thank you, Spirit Spider," he murmured, "You served me well. Thank you too, Nykko's Fighter, for bringing him here alive."

"What are you nattering about, you silly fool?" Nykko snapped at him, "I think I've just saved a lunatic. Either that, or the Centauri Snake-Wine that I gave you is making you drunk."

"I...thought you weren't going to give me pain-killers," KyTeth croaked in between breaths.

"Shut up!" Nykko yelled at him, furious at the load on his back, "I should just drop you in this bog and let you rot. You and your fleet of spotted reptiles, who slew some of my dear friends!"

"Your Shadows killed mine, too," KyTeth told him, "So we're even."

"What are you talking about—'Shadows'? That is preposterous. Our shadows cannot kill. Only we can kill. I don't know what happened to make all your ships suddenly explode out of nothing. Maybe our Great Maker has punished you!"

"Don't you know about the Shadow-Spiders, Nykko?" he asked, straining to try to keep his mind off the pain.

"Now I know you're both crazy and drunk," Nykko grumbled, "and I suppose you'll be useless when it comes time to meet up with your compatriots. They'll shoot me down like an animal, won't they? I should have killed you while I had the chance, but that damn pistol wouldn't fire. I don't know why—it was fully loaded."

Nykko muttered on to himself, but he continued his way through the maze of trees, carrying KyTeth all the way.

"Maybe it's because of the Shield—the Triarian Shield, that won't allow weapons to come through," KyTeth murmured, "Maybe it's up now. Channie told me about it, and so did Ni'Kar..."

"What are you blabbering about, you sand-lizard?" Nykko growled. He suddenly stopped.

"I smell Narns," he said, panic rising in his voice, "This is where I die, isn't it? Here, on an alien world, in the middle of the woods, with a legless Narn on my back. Oh, how the Universe is wicked!"

"KyTeth!" a familiar voice cried out. As he lifted his head wearily, he saw Kha'Ral, the young cadet G'Rath, and his Uncle Ba'Quith coming forward with the Triarian delegate that he had met earlier on Babylon 5, Rayal.

KyTeth, in spite of the seriousness of his condition, could not contain his joy. He attempted to warble out a song of families united, but he ended up in a coughing fit.

"Thank G'Quan you are alive, KyTeth!" Kha'Ral exclaimed, taking him tenderly from Nykko and laying him on the ground. Ba'Quith and Rayal set to work wrapping his legs after having applied a poultice which had a very familiar smell to it. He remembered the Nameless Healer back on Narn, and her foul-smelling poultice. He had never been so overjoyed to smell such a terrible odor in his life.

"Nameless Healer!" KyTeth cried softly, his mind only semi-conscious.

"She's not here!" Ba'Quith told him sternly, "Many Narns know how to make this poultice. Now stop talking and moving about, so we can wrap these tourniquets properly!"

"Best of luck getting him to stop talking," Nykko Marran commented, but everyone was ignoring him. When they had finished attending to KyTeth, G'Rath pushed a button, and a levitating stretcher came to them. The young cadet helped Ba'Quith lift KyTeth onto the stretcher, and Ba'Quith gestured to G'Rath to follow him and Rayal, who had put his hand over KyTeth's legs. Even though he was not fully conscious, he could feel a warm energy coming from Rayal's hands which spilled out onto his wounds. It was a very comforting feeling, and it seemed to help him with the pain.

"Excuse me!" Nykko cried out as they all left to accompany the wounded KyTeth back to wherever it was that they had come from, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Ba'Quith whirled around and said impatiently, "Thank you, Nykko Marran, for rescuing our boy."

"No, you blasted swamp-toad!" KyTeth could hear Nykko yelling, "Not that! Aren't you going to capture me or kill me, or something like that?"

"We don't have time for such foolishness!" Kha'Ral called out, "This is the World of Light, and it is the Triars who are in charge of it, now. Follow us, and we will take you to the Underground City. You will be safe, there!"

If Nykko made any reply, KyTeth did not hear it. He blacked out, once again.